If you believe real global growth will improve, look for bargains in commodities and cyclical companies, NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran said Wednesday.

"I think in a sense you've got to play the cycles, commodity-price cycles and economic cycles, so I would go to commodity companies and cyclical companies," he said. "Not all of them are cheap, but I think your best chance of finding bargains are in those segments."

On CNBC's "Fast Money," Damodaran said that he had bought stock in Petrobras as a play on Brazil and oil.

"I'm looking for commodity companies which I think will benefit from potentially higher prices in the future but also from an improvement in the view about emerging market risk," he said.

Netflix Could Add 50 Million New Subs: Pro

With year-to-date gains of 129 percent in its shares, Netflix has farther to climb, Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities says.

Damodaran said that investors looking beyond a one- or two-year time horizon could factor in a global growth story.

"If you believe it's going to return, this might be as good a time to get into commodities as any other," he said. "I'm essentially looking for commodity companies that have the fundamentals that I think I can live with."

Damodaran said that he didn't see any way to stop the increase in interest rates.

"I think it's the healthiest thing that can happen for this economy and the market," he added. "And to those that believe the only thing that's sustaining this market is low interest rates, if that in fact is the case, we're in big trouble."

Damodaran also addressed his previous long-term belief in Apple stock.

"As I said, Apple's going to be the test of whether in fact I'm a value investor because the price bugs me," he said. "Every time I look at my portfolio, I see the price dropping another 10, 15 percent from the previous level, but with its cash flows I'm still OK with it as an investment."